


Of Feathers and Familiars

by LionessOnYourBack



Category: Jurassic Park (Movies), Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Familiars, Gen, I'm really not sure how to tag this, Sorry Not Sorry, not a soulmate fic, starts before the movie, that wing fic no one asked for, they don't help find soulmates, wing fic, wings help find familiars
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-01
Updated: 2016-09-08
Packaged: 2018-04-12 09:03:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4473368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LionessOnYourBack/pseuds/LionessOnYourBack
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s told to us from the first day of school around the world:</p><p>Your primary wing color will always be the same as your hair color.  What ever species of bird your wings are structurally based on will never effect that color.  The secondary colors you see on your wings represent your familiars.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Beta read by AttaGirlBlue aka Euca (Khel)
> 
> This is my first time in the JP/JW sandbox, despite the fact that it's been my favorite movie since I was 12 when it came out in 1993.  
> I'm also an unbelievably nervous writer, so...be kind?
> 
> See end notes for cast list

It’s told to us from the first day of school around the world:

Your primary wing color will always be the same as your hair color.

What ever species of bird your wings are structurally based on will never effect that color. You got Peacock wings but black hair? Sorry buddy, you got black Peacock wings.

There are two ways this will change: Lighter or Darker.

A Lighter primary color is caused by ANY kind of trauma in a kid’s life before they hit 13. One of your parents dies? Your wings go lighter. You get bullied badly at school long enough with no help, your wings go lighter. Nearly die for one reason or another, your wings go lighter.

Darker primary colored wings happen when a person has three (3) near death experiences, whether they were intentional or not. Nearly die as a kid, and then have two more accidents? Your wings go dark. Fighting in the Armed Forces for your country and have the devil’s luck? Your wings go dark.

The secondary colors you see on your wings represent your familiars. Some kids find their familiar right away, some even find them almost right after they’re born. Some people never find their familiars. Life sucks, but just because you haven’t found your familiar yet doesn’t mean you should stop looking.

If the human or their familiar die before they meet, the other will continue to live, but they will NOT know what they have lost. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, you know? They tell us that humans want to travel the world looking for our familiars if we don’t find them right away; that we always know what direction to go. But if our familiar dies, that want and need to travel fades away over a few days. People just go home.

For animals whose human dies, they start to wander farther afield than they normally would have, expanding their territories for no apparent reason.

Things have changed a bit since Owen Grady was in school, hell even since he’d joined and subsequently left the Navy. InGen had teamed up with Masrani Global and reclaimed Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna; they had done what John Hammond could not. They had opened the park and called it Jurassic World. Since the park had opened, a handful of humans had gone there and surprised everyone by proving that their familiars were some of the re-engineered dinosaurs in the park. Since InGen didn’t want the animals taken off the island, the people that could claim them as their familiars were asked if they wanted jobs there on the island, and so far none had turned down the offers.

So far, out of all the re-engineered life on the island, only terrestrial and avian animals have shown to be familiars; that also holds true for normal animals, and those who are drawn to the island seem relieved about that.

Out of all of the humans that have found their familiars on Isla Nublar, none of them have normal colored wings; they all fall into the Lighter or Darker camps and whispers have started to circulate around the island, and later the internet, that the original familiar for each of these individuals had died before they could find them and that the dinosaurs were somehow a consolation prize of some kind.

Owen Grady thought that this theory was complete and utter bullshit.

Alan Grant, though they don’t know it (or each other) yet, agrees.

~~~

Months before the Indominus Rex incident, the original survivors of Jurassic Park got together for a reunion and to talk about the new Park that had been doing so well; the Park that John Hammond had wanted so badly that he had spared no expense and then had watched people die for it.

Ian was still saying it was doomed to fail just like the original Park and just like Site B, but it hadn’t happened yet and it was making some of them wonder.

Ellie asked Lex and Tim how their own lives are doing, and both are glad that there are no more dinosaurs in it. Their familiars, a fox and a lemur, couldn’t agree more. Lex asked how Ellie’s family was doing, and Ellie said that it’s strange having her sons in school all day, the house is just so quiet.

Ian and Alan are still on the lecture circuit or, in Alan’s case, lecturing and still digging up old bones. Ellie, Lex and Tim all smiled at that, Ian just rolled his eyes. The banter between them all was old and well remembered.

Alan confesses that Owen Grady, currently working for Jurassic World, had reached out to him not long after he was hired to work for the Park and that they had been in contact ever since. Ellie looks a bit sheepish at this, Alan gives her a long suffering look, but doesn’t ask, he’s known her long enough to trust whatever judgement she’d had.

He told them about the crazy idea that InGen had hatched to make a new raptor pack and that Owen is the test Alpha for this little crack-pot plan.

Everyone stared at Alan wide eyed and in varying stages of slack jaw before they collectively groan, each remembering their own experiences with the raptors either on Isla Nublar or Isla Sorna. None of them envy Owen Grady if this insane plan of InGen’s backfires, because they all know it won’t end well for Mr. Grady.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cast:  
> -Dr. Alan Grant  
> Wing color: sandy brown (Darker)  
> Associated species: Alpine Swift  
> Familiar: Mountain Lion, Seeker
> 
> -Dr. Ellie Sattler-Degler  
> Wing color: Yellow  
> Associated species: Peregrin Falcon  
> Familiar: Bobcat, Jinx
> 
> -Dr. Ian Malcolm  
> Wing color: Black  
> Associated species: Blue Bird (not Blue Jay)  
> Familiar: Owl, Nihm
> 
> -Lex Murphy  
> Wing color: Sandy Yellow  
> Associated species: Sparrow Hawk  
> Familiar: Fox, Tod
> 
> -Tim Murphy  
> Wing color: Auburn (Lighter)  
> Associated species: Gyrfalcon  
> Familiar: Lemur, Knives (because he likes to take them)
> 
> -Owen Grady  
> Wing color: Red/Brown (Darker)  
> Associated species: Golden Eagle  
> Familiar: Raptor, Blue
> 
> -Barry Sy  
> Wing color: Brown (Lighter)  
> Associated species: Arctic Tern  
> Familiar: Raptor, Delta
> 
> -Claire Dearing  
> Wing color: Darker Auburn  
> Associated species: Bird of Paradise  
> Familiar: American Shorthair, Judgement 
> 
> -Zara Young  
> Wing color: Black  
> Associated species: Sparrow  
> Familiar: Hummingbird, Jade
> 
> -Vic Hoskins  
> Wing color: Light Brown  
> Associated species: Dove  
> Familiar: Komodo Dragon, Atila 
> 
> -Zach Mitchell  
> Wing color: Brown  
> Associated species: Swift  
> Familiar: Husky, Kiva
> 
> -Gray Mitchell  
> Wing color: Sandy  
> Associated species: Hummingbird  
> Familiar: Raptor, Charlie
> 
> -Henry Wu  
> Wing color: Black  
> Associated species: Owl  
> Familiar: Rat, Nicodemus 
> 
> -Simon Masrani  
> Wing color: Very Dark Brown  
> Associated species: Pheasant  
> Familiar: Tiger, Hope/Asa
> 
> -Lowery Cruthers  
> Wing color: Black  
> Associated species: Raven  
> Familiar: Chimp, George


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Owen has an interview for a Jurassic World job opening with an unlikely interviewer, and then has a marathon interview.  
> After that he reaches out to an unlikely person to get their opinion on whether he really should take the job or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by the ever wonderful Euca (Khel)

Owen had finished his time with the Navy and had not signed up for another go.  While it had let him see the world, he had never felt the pull to go in any one direction, no pull from his familiar.

He tried not to let it bother him while he had been in, that's why he had signed up as an animal tamer and trainer.  He'd thoroughly enjoyed it, and learned a lot about the animals that he worked with.

It was his time as a trainer that caught InGen's attention and several different people started paying attention to what Owen Grady could get animals to do.  Most overlooked that all of the animals had learned to trust Owen before they would start listening to him though.

This is how Owen found himself in front of his computer, wings groomed to within an inch of his life ("Thanks mom, no, seriously, they look great!) and in the only suit he had...from the waist up.  Below the belt he had on a pair of pants he'd gotten when he had first joined the Navy, and at this point they were just too comfortable to get rid of.  Besides, whomever was going to be interviewing him wasn't going to see anything but his face, wings and upper body anyway, right?

His computer chimed and he clicked on the incoming call button.  Out of all of the potential people Owen could have guessed at for being on the other end, Simon Masrani  himself had never even crossed his mind.  Even for someone that had been in the Navy this was probably Owen's worst case scenario come to life, and he could actually  feel some of the color drain from his face.  He very nearly stood up even, but remembered what he was wearing with enough time so that he could just lean farther forward.

For his part in the less-than-three-seconds that the call had actually been taking place, Simon Masrani smiled widely, his wings spreading as if to mimic the motion.

Owen could see that Simon Masrani had very dark wings, but he didn't think that they were black.  They were very glossy and had accents of orange in them.  Owen's own wings were a darker red/brown, clearly darker than his hair and they had blue/grey accents.

Owen's attention was drawn back to the screen as Simon spread his arms wide and opened his mouth, "hello there Mr. Grady!  There is no need to look so nervous, I assure you.  I simply took an interest in your file when it was shown to me and decided that I would be the one to do your interview.  This way there is no middleman telling me what he or she thinks I should know about you!"

Simon's smile grew impossibly wider, but Owen felt himself relax some.  If the big boss didn't want a middleman for this, then it was either going to be awesome or awful and there just wasn't anything he could do now except be himself.  ("Don't be yourself!  Don't you want a job Owen?!"  "Gee thanks, Mom...")

"So, Mr. Masrani, what do you want to know?" Owen asked, his wings relaxing behind him and he smiled, too.

Simon's eyes lit up and he leaned closer to his camera, "Everything."

...

Owen collapsed face first onto his bed, his wings going limp over him.  Simon Masrani had not been kidding when he's said everything.  Owen  groaned into his pillow.  They'd spent three hours on the skype call for the interview and the questions had all been extremely varied.  They'd ranged from favorite color ("Owen!"  "I'm not making it up mom, he actually asked me what my favorite color was!") to what it had been like taming animals for the Navy.

That had started a tangent on the differences between training, which is what Owen did, versus taming, which is what cowboys did to wild mustangs in the Old West.  By the end of that particular thread, Owen was almost certain Masrani had made the taming/training mistake on purpose, because the longer Owen had explained the differences, the happier Masrani seemed to get.

And now Owen was laying face down on his bed, still in part of the only suit he owned, a bit bewildered on how the interview had gone in Masrani's eyes, and drained overall from such a long interview.

...

It was an hour later when his mother came in to tell him that dinner was ready and to scold him out of half of his suit.

"Honestly Owen, it's all wrinkled now!  What if you'd had another interview tomorrow?"  Mrs. Grady tsked.

Owen smiled at his mother and wrapped her in a hug with both his arms and his wings and received a shrill giggled for it, just before her own wing came around and cuffed him in the head.

"Ow!  Mom!"  Owen laughed as he let his mother go and took a step back, bringing his arms up in mock defence.

"Don't you 'Mom' at me, Owen Grady!" she laughed, "I don't care what you did for the Navy, I brought you into this world and I will take you back out of it if you insist on wrinkling your ONLY suit!"  Mrs. Grady tutted as she moved closer to Owen, ignoring his mock stance, and started smoothing out the wrinkles.

"You used to fit your father's suits," she sighed dramatically, "and now look at what the Navy's done to you!  My little boy is all grown up."

Owen smiled fondly down at his mother. This was something she'd been saying a lot since he'd come home.

"I'm still your little boy, Mom.  The Navy just had me get more muscles and stuff for when I trained with animals.  Wouldn't have been safe to have some beanpole in there with dolphins if they decided to get overly playful, right?"

Mrs. Grady gave a long suffering sigh and smiled at her son's standard answer to her standard question.  They were quite the pair sometimes.

After that, and a quick wardrobe change for Owen, they went downstairs to eat and fill everyone else in on Owen's interview.

...

It wasn't very long after that, that Owen decided to do something crazy.  He looked up Dr. Ellie Sattler's email address and reached out to her.  He knew trying to contact Alan Grant by email would be like trying to prove dinosaur bones were not dragon bones to the world during the dark ages. That is to say, highly unlikely.  

His first email took forever to write because how do you write to someone like Dr. Ellie Sattler and not turn into some kind of super nerd?  It was very frustrating.  Eight drafts, twelve pots of coffee and four nearly sleepless days later he had something that sounded 88% professional and only 12% like he was still a kid who had just heard about the incident on Isla Nublar for the first time.  He hoped 12% was acceptable.

_Dear Dr. Sattler,_

_My name is Owen Grady, and I am contacting you today because I have recently been interviewed for a job at Jurassic World and feel strongly that I will be offered the job._  
_Of all of the people who have been to Isla Nublar, I felt that you were the one most likely to give me honest answers to any questions I asked, if you felt so inclined to reply at all._  
_To let you know some more about myself, I was recently in the US Navy and worked as an animal trainer.  I finished my enlistment and decided that was that.  Not because I no longer feel anything for my county, but because I never felt the pull of my familiar, no matter where the seas took me._  
_So, for now, I've come home, and I haven't even been back that long, truth be told.  I don't  even know how Masrani Global know I'd made it home, but they did. They contacted me and asked if I was interested in doing an interview, and I said yes, because dinosaurs, and I don't know know what to really make of Simon Masrani or Masrani Global or InGen, and I was hoping I could get even five seconds of your time._  
_Even if that five seconds amounts to "how did you get this email, never contact me again!" because I'd take even that at this point._  
_Really, my only question is, would you take the job?  
_ _If you've made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read this._

  _Sincerely,  
__Owen Grady_

Owen pushed away from the keyboard and moved the cursor to hover over 'send.'  It was now or never, and with one quick click the email was gone from his screen.  The ball, so to speak, was in Dr. Sattler's court now.

...

  
Ellie Sattler-Degler sat outside with her coffee, her laptop, and the newspaper.  She had already seen her husband out the front door and off onto his way to work, quickly followed by both of her sons heading off to catch their school bus.

Mornings and early afternoons were so boring for Ellie now that she had started accepting long distance work from universities who needed the opinion of a well known and well credited paleobotanist.  The work was easy and the commission she made was good.

Today, though, there was only one email in her inbox when she set her newspaper down, and she didn't recognize who it was from.

The subject was simply, "Honest Opinion?"

Ellie leaned forward a bit and shifted her wings behind her.  Did they want an honest opinion from her or were they about to criticize her for something she'd signed off on?

Ellie rolled her eyes at herself. She was how old and still let small surprises like this wind her up, no matter how temporarily?

She childishly stuck her tongue out at the email as she double clicked it.

Ellie read through the email, and the longer she  went into it, the higher one of her eyebrows rose up her forehead.

Jinx padded over to her and rested her head on Ellie's knee, and she reached down and ran her hand over her bobcats head.

~What's wrong Ellie?~

"It's just a very strange email, Jinx," Ellie said, not taking her eyes off of the screen as she reread the email.

~My definition of strange or yours?~

"This person was interviewed for a job at Jurassic World, and he thinks he's going to get it, but, and here's the kicker, he wants someone to be honest with him on whether he should actually take the job or not," and Ellie paused to look at Jinx with a smile catching at the corners of her mouth, "and I quote, 'because dinosaurs'."

Jinx snorted and twitched her nose, ~ what are you going to tell him?  The last time I checked we didn’t exactly have a good time on that island.~

Ellie’s wings ruffled up at the memory, no they most certainly had not had a good time there...although.

“Figuring out what had been wrong with the Trike…,” Elli started out loud, only to have a large bobcat paw pressed to her mouth, stopping her from finishing.  She smiled behind the paw.

~You will not, ‘but dinosaurs, Jinx!’ at me again, Ellie.  I was there.  I remember the West Indian Lilac Berries and the lack thereof in the stupid things poop.  I was shaking and dragging my paw the rest of the time we were there and not running for our lives, because I thought I’d stepped in it, and it was Tim and Knives and not you who finally told me my paw was clean.  You just sat there and snickered!~

“Oh come on!  How many times had I stepping in something out in the Badlands and then tracked it around the dig site, and you were the only one that knew.  Revenge, my friend, is a dish best served cold,” Ellie countered.

The pair looked each other in the eye a moment longer before Jinx shifted and licked Ellie’s nose, sandpaper over soft skin, and they both dissolved into laughter, or a chuffing sound for Jinx, who had learned to mimic Ellie’s laugh after so many years.

~So you’re going to tell him to do it?~

“No.  I’m going to tell him my experience with the Trike and ask him what he thinks about that.  Most people have only heard about the running and the screaming thanks to Ian, or about Alan and the kids adventure after the power went out.”

~That book was a very good way for Lex and Tod to get all of that out of their systems, and for letting the world see more than just Ian’s side of the story.~

“I’d toast to that if I had something stronger than coffee,” Ellie said.  She remembered getting a digital copy of the book from Lex, painting the trio’s story as far more of an adventure instead of two days of terror, and there had been a few things that Alan had never told her as well.  Who, at the time, would think of the story of a congested Brachiosaur sneezing on Lex as she finally worked up the courage to pet it?  Certainly not Alan Grant, that’s for sure.

Ellie ruffled Jinx’s fur between her ears one more time and then turned her attention back to her laptop.

_Dear Mr. Grady,_

_Jinx and I have decided not to tell you never to write to us again, because dinosaurs._  
_Jinx is the name of my familiar, incidentally.  We can never remember how much of the original Park’s media coverage she was in at the time of the collapse, so I like to introduce her to everyone.  You should be glad that this is an email though, Jinx isn’t always as friendly as I appear to be.  ;)_  
_Before I answer your rambling question, I have a story for you._  
_Before everything went to hell in Jurassic Park, before the raptors got out and before the T-Rex ate the lawyer, even before the power went out and before the storm hit.  The Park was working._  
_The locking mechanisms on the vehicle doors left much to be desired though, and thank God for that.  I say that because what I’m telling you isn’t widely know, if it’s known at all._  
_We had gone past two enclosures where we hadn’t been able to see the dinosaurs at all, they didn’t want to come close enough to the fences, even when bribed with food in the case of the second dinosaur._  
_So there we were, no dinosaurs on our dinosaur tour, when Alan’s attention is grabbed by something that the cars are coming up to, he doesn’t even look at me and Ian when I try to get his attention for something Ian was showing me.  He chooses that exact moment to open the door of a moving vehicle and hop out, with me and our familiars hot on his heels, asking if he’d seen anything and trying to get his attention in general._  
_Poor Ian and Nihm were left back in the car with no idea that this was just how Alan normally operated._  
_Both cars eventually stopped and everyone quickly joined Alan and I as we got closer to whatever it was that he had spotted from the car.  He told us all to wait and hang back a moment while he and his familiar, Seeker, kept going, but Timmy and his little lemur familiar, Knives, went right on after him and the rest of us quickly followed._  
_I’ll never forget that sight, Mr. Grady, of clearing the tall grass and seeing a full grown Triceratops laying on its side.  Beautiful as any illustration, but alive and breathing._  
_Dr. Harding, Jurassic Park’s vet, had tranquilized her so that he could try to figure out why she was getting sick at certain intervals._  
_We stayed with the doctor for a bit and I saw that there were some poisonous plants near by, but Harding assured me that the dinosaurs didn’t  eat them.  Only one way to really be sure in the end, I had to check the Trike’s droppings.  The idea amused Alan and disgusted Ian, but there were no traces of the poisonous plant in the droppings._  
_We went back to the Trike and that’s about the time when the thunder really picked up.  I stayed with Dr. Harding to finish up with the Trike while Alan and the other went back to the ride cars._  
_Dr. Harding had a gas powered jeep, that’s how he’d gotten out there, in case you were wondering.  Not everything was electric, not every expense had been spared._  
_The others went on only to stop in front of the T-Rex paddock  when the Park’s computer specialist did whatever he did and I made it back for my own adventure separate from theirs, for the most part._  
_So, do I think you should take the job, whatever it ends up being, when or if they offer it to you?_  
_That depends on how good you are at running, of the park remains doing as well as it has been, or screaming, if the Malcolm Effect catches up to it again.  
_ _Tell me, Mr. Grady, just how good are you at running or screaming?_

__ _Sincerest wishes,  
_ _Dr. Ellen Sattler-Degler_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welshstar asked last chapter what would happen if someone suffered a childhood trauma (Lighter wings) and then ended up with 3+ near death experiences (Darker wings) to their wings, and I hadn't thought about it at the time. But I have now! 
> 
> I feel that the backs of the wings would go Darker while the underside would remain Lighter. A rough kind of camouflage if you will, the way a shark is darker on top and lighter on the bottom, so that when you look down into the water it makes it hard to see, and if you are already in the water and look up, it is also hard to see the lighter side.
> 
> Natures way of saying, "sorry I hit you so hard, but at least you got back up?"
> 
> Edit:  
> 9.7.15, someone extremely important to me passed away in the middle of August and my little used writing muse kind of died with her. I have started on the next chapter because I don't want to be someone that never finishes a story they have started to post, and you have all been so lovely so far.
> 
> So I just wanted to let you know that next chapter is in the works, I just don't know when it's coming. =( I'm sorry.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Decisions are made and things are set into motion!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a short chapter, and I've actually been sitting on most of it for a few months. I'm so sorry to leave you hanging! Someone very dear to me passed away in August and her death hit me very hard.
> 
> I did not want 2015 to end without posting another chapter though. This has not been seen by my normal beta, and is entirely unedited except for what I could find myself.
> 
> If anyone is still around, thank you.

Owen was out before the sun was up. Navy shirt on and in a pair of comfortable sweatpants as he jogged around his neighborhood. The sounds of his feet a steady beat as he went, no real destination in mind.  
  
He had gotten the reply back from Dr. Sattler faster than he had anticipated, but he hadn’t opened it precisely because it had come back so quickly. He was sure it was just going to be a politely worded rejection or a “ never contact me again” reply. He was sure that one way or the other the email she had sent would be short and to the point.  
  
On the flip side, he hadn’t heard anything from Masrani Global or Jurassic World, which was just more of a let down, because of how excited Simon Masrani had seemed during the interview.  
  
Owen shook his head and turned a corner, this run was supposed to help clear his head, not help it keep going around in circles. He ran on, the sound of his shoes going from the steady concrete of the sidewalks to the crunch of gravel as he got to the old quarry. So many middle-of-America town seemed to have these old and abandoned quarries, he thought, the crunch of the gravel under his feet making a new rhythm as he continued.  
  
He made his way to the center where the open, and inevitable quarry lake was, and that's when he finally stopped. He smiled as he looked down at the water. He'd managed to remember the path that would bring him up to the highest point around the rim of the lake, which is what he wanted.  
  
He took a deep breath and stretched out his wings, flexing them and getting the blood pumping. He did a few more stretches with them before he backed up a few paces and then ran for the edge at a full sprint. Snapping his wings open the moment his feet left the ground, he was able to glide briefly so that he could get his aerial bearings and then he started to pump his wings to properly fly.  
  
The dark red/brown of Owen’s looked brighter in the sun as he flew above the tree line, and the grey/green of his accent colors looked brighter as well. They normally looked dull in any lighting, maybe this was a sign...that he'd preened properly for once. Owen sighed and started a wide arc that would take him down to the water.  
  
He made the arc wide enough so that he could touch the walls of the quarry lake as he made his decent, drifting away from them the lower he got so that he could pump his wings harder to stay in flight. The air currents where less now that he was below the rim of the quarry, but more so since he was close to the walls.  
  
He made a sharp turn away from the wall and was now out over the water, and back into the sunlight and heading for a small beach on the side farthest from him. If he landed he'd have to pound the pavement to get back home, if he was able to fly out of the quarry he could fly home. His back might not like it later tonight, but his legs already hated him...so might as well make this a full body workout, right?  
  
Arcing back up to climb out of the quarry again, Owen pumped his wings until he had enough altitude that would let him glide for a little bit as he turned and headed for home.

  
...

  
Owen could practically hear the sigh from his mother as their backyard came into view. The look on her face was proof enough for him that she had sighed and she might have even rolled her eyes at him too. He smiled as he changed his angle to get ready to land.  
  
"Honestly Owen, do you have any idea how long you've been gone?" where the first words out of his mothers mouth, which clearly meant he'd been gone much longer than he'd thought, so he checked his watch. Yup, 10am, he'd been gone a little over four hours.  
  
"Opps?" he said with a goofy smile on his face.  
  
"Really, that's all you've got, Owen? I expected more from someone who was waiting for a call from Masra..."  
  
"They called back while I was out?!" Owen interrupted, he sounded horrified. What if that gave the wrong impression! His mother was giving him a flat stare though, so she had more to say. "Sorry, Mom, please continue," he said at a more reasonable volume.  
  
"As I was going to say, your father got to the phone before I did, and you should thank him for that, because when they asked to speak with you your father said you were out on you /daily/ morning run and that it took you some time to finish it before you returned home. That sly old devil, they believed him, too!" Mrs. Grady sounded mildly scandalized, but she was smiling.  
  
"Are you telling our son MY story, dear?" Mr. Grady asked as he came outside to join them. Owen chuckled as his mother swatted at his father with one of her wings, his father still agile enough to avoid it.  
  
"You weren't out here waiting for him, so someone had to," she defended.  
  
"You were waiting to ambush him, that's what you were waiting for," to which Mrs. Grady only tsked and turned her head away while Mr. Grady chuckled.  
  
"We'll be sad to see you go, you haven't been back that long really," he said, turning his attention back to Owen, who blinked at his father for a moment as what he said sank in. Once it did he whooped loudly and rushed forward, wings stretching out wide behind him, and wrapped his father in a tight hug. His right wing catching his mother and pulling her close enough so that he could include her in the hug too.

"This is amazing!" Owen laughed as he leaned down to kiss his mothers cheek. "Dinosaurs, can you believe it! And it doesn't even matter what kinds they'll have me working with because dinosaurs...wow..."

Owen's parents laughed at him, his father patting him on the back while his mother stood on tiptoe to ruffle his hair. Her little boy was still in there after all.

...

 

The offer that Masrani Global had made was for Owen to live on the island itself and to be a part of an experimental project, one where not all of the details had been worked out to their final details yet, but that Owen's time in the Navy would be invaluable to them.

It sounded strange to Owen, but "dinosaurs!" the 10 year old in him argued. It was only then that he remembered the unread email from Dr. Sattler. Feeling like some kind of kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, he quickly sat down at his desk and opened up his email to click on Dr. Sattler's reply.  
  
Talk about an honest opinion, Owen thought. He ran his hand over the back of his neck as he finished the email. Running and screaming, huh? They had all kinds of fail safes in place because of what happened at the first park, didn't they? But still...He was a good runner, good flier too if it came to that, and the Navy makes sure you stick to their standards and not your own. As for the screaming...shit would really have to hit the fan for him to find that one out.  
  
Owen clicked reply and smiled, he was actually getting the chance to reply to Dr. Ellie Sattler!  
  
_Dear Dr. Sattler-Degler,_  
  
      _Thank you for taking the time to write back to me. Tell Jinx I say hello!_  
  
    _I just found out that I did get the job with Masrani Global for Jurassic World, they want me down there as soon as I can get all of the paperwork done._  
  
      _As for your question, I only know the answer to part of it. I'm pretty good at running, the Navy would have been very upset with me if I hadn't been able to keep up with all of their training._  
  
      _I do not know, however, how good I am at screaming. Never had a situation come up where screaming was the best option in a list of already bad options. If it makes it to #1 I will let you know though, though if that happens you might hear about it some other way before me. So here's to hoping that never happens._  
  
      _Sorry this is so short, paperwork and packing to do! Thank you again for taking the time to get back to me in the first place!_  
  
_Sincerely,_  
_Owen Grady_  
  
Owen clicked send, feeling much more confident about this email than he did about the original one. He stood up from his desk and looked back over the travesty that was his bed and duffle bag. Packing was certainly going to be the easy part, it was the paperwork Masrani Global had emailed him to fill out, then scan back in and email back to them that he was not looking forward to.  
  
It was going to get done, and in a very timely manner, because Owen Grady was **going** to work with dinosaurs, and that was that. He just hoped that there wasn't a lot of paperwork once he got to the park itself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To anyone that is still reading this story, thank you for sticking around. I'll try to do better in 2016 <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting to the island

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well...looks like 2016 isn't going much better than 2015...

     In the end it took a week for Owen to get through all of the paper work, update his passport since he was no longer with the Armed Forces, and pack.  Dr. Sattler-Degler, “call me Ellie,” had written back to him and had CC’d Dr. Ian Malcolm and Dr. Alan Grant.  Owen was desperately trying not to let his inner child have a heart attack at that.

      Dr. Malcolm had gone on and on and ON in his reply-all about how fundamentally wrong it was to have the park open at all while Ellie had replied back mocking him.  Owen’s inner child was definitely going to have a heart attack.  Dr. Grant didn’t bother replying at all, but the world at large knew that technology and Dr. Grant did not get along, so Owen wasn’t surprised.

 …

      The closer the time came to leaving his parents home and heading to Isla Nublar, the more Owen’s inner compass swung south.  He didn’t tell his parents.  He’d heard of people who had visited the island after it opened, people who had not found their familiars yet, people with wings that were Lighter or Darker, and they found what essentially was a genetic abomination to be the other half of their soul. 

      Owen would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little thrilled.  He knew that the dinosaurs on the island didn’t match modern day archeological findings for the creatures, but instead better matched up to what adults had grown up with when they themselves were children.  Before dinosaurs had feathers or were anything other than grey-green and brown in any art that depicted them.

      He arched the tips of his wings forward so he could see his long flight feathers, the blue-grey that didn’t really match many, if any, living terrestrial animal or avian he’d encountered while he was working with the Navy and he smiled.  The Darker auburn of his main color, shades darker than his own hair, really made him wonder about the stories that he’d found online.

      “I’ll find you down there, just you wait,” he said to himself as he readjusted his wings to settle against his back.  There was no way that the rumors on the internet had any basis in reality, and Owen was going to prove that.  You only got one familiar in your life, every child the world over was taught that, so the people with Lighter or Darker wings that found their familiars on the island were meant to have dinosaurs as familiars.  That’s all there was to it.

 …

      Owen stood at the bow of the ship heading to Isla Nublar, his hands braced on the railing and his wings spread out to either side as if his was Rose DeWitt Bukater from Titanic.  He laughed out loud at the mental imaged he’d just given himself and arched his wings so that they stretched as high up as they could go, catching the sea spray as the ship crested another wave.

      He was almost to the island now, and his inner compass was just about turning in circles, like a real compass in the heart of a storm where the pressures were too much for it.

      He heard a shout be hind him and saw the First Mate waving to him.  An imposing woman with a Rottweiler for a familiar, Owen folded his wings and climbed to where she was standing on, on the upper level.  He could have flown up, the Navy had taught him, but it wasn’t his ship, and he knew to respect the crew the way others probably didn’t.

      “Ma’am?” he said when he was close enough for her to hear, inclining his head to both her and her familiar.

      "Just wanted to get you away from the bow since we're nearly there, Mr. Grady.  If this was a ship for tourists we would have brought them back to their seats by now.  Spare no expense might be the parks most notorious motto thanks to Mr. Hammond, but Safety First is the one we all try to life by after the first attempt and Trent he incident on Isla Sorna.  You'd do well to remember that no matter which animals they have you working with once you're on the island.  These aren't the marine mammals that you are used to working with, these are creatures that, and I'm paraphrasing Dr. Malcolm, had their chance 65 million years ago and their gut instincts can't just be ignored," she cocked an eyebrow at Owen but otherwise her face remained expressionless.  

      "Wasn't it Dr. Grant that said 65 million years of grunt instinct couldn't be repressed?" Was his only reply back.

      The first mate barked out a laugh and shook her head, "that is the only thing you got from everything I just said?  Mr. Grady, you are crazier than I had heard.  I do believe that you will fit in just fine with some of the quirkier handlers here on the island that I've met."

      A whistle sounded from the wheelhouse, the signal that they were in site of the docs now, and both the first mate and Owen turned to look out over the water towards the island.  Owen couldn't help the smile on his face.

      "A word to the wise Mr. Grady, when you meet the park director, try to be as professional as you possibly can.  She has no armed forces background what-so-ever and won't understand a conversation in the manner in which we just had one.  Do try to stay on her good side.  It will make your stay with the he park infinitely easier if you have her in your corner," the first mate said as she motioned for Owen to head back inside and take a seat.

      "What about Masrani?" He asked, looking over his should at her.

      "Good luck with that," was all the first mate said as she turned to head back to the wheel house.

...

      There was a tall, dark skinned man waiting at the end of the pier after Owen had disembarked.  The man had wings that we're definitely Lighter, and from what Owen could see they were built for speed.  He wondered if the man would be up for a friendly face after he got settled in.

      When he drew level to the other man, they both extended hands to shake.

      "Is it safe to guess that you are Owen Grady," the man asked.  His English was accented with what Owen was going to guess was French, he'd ask later though, no point in learning everything all at once.

      "That's me.  I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that you are my welcome wagon," he smiled at the other man, his wings fluffing up good-naturedly.

      The man chuckled and nodded, "yes, my name is Barry and I'm going to be working with you on...whatever this project is that Mr. Masrani hired you for.  I've been on the island for a while now working with some of the smaller predators, and then out of the blue, Mr. Masrani himself finds me and tells me that I will be starting something new with a new recruit!  Imagine the shock on our faces, because he doesn't just show up like that...ok...actually he does, but it isn't normally to pull someone off of one project and move them to another."  Barry smiled brightly and turned to head up the path that would lead to the center of the park.  Owen shifted the straps on his bags and followed, chuckling at Mr. Masrani's antics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Endless love to everyone that read this so far. I am going to keep plucking away at it. Slow and steady, right?
> 
> I'm not a very confident writer, so if you let me know what part of the story you like thus far it just might help encourage me to write a bit faster? Who's up for a social experiment?!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Owen get's to the park and hits the ground running with Barry at his side, and then he meets Zara and Claire. He knew the Navy had things timed, but this is next level.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took my iPad on the train to work with me. I know I'm more productive on the train into work for drawing, so I thought, "maybe writing too?"
> 
> Trains, who knew, right?

Looking out the window of the monorail Owen couldn’t help but be a little awed at the scale of the things he was seeing. He had known that the park was big, it was an entire island for gods sake, but this was next level shit for what they had for the humans and any familiars that were coming for a vacation. He pressed closer to the glass when he saw the enormous lagoon and he heard Barry laugh behind him.

“That is not for us, my friend, whatever we will be working with, it will be remaining firmly on the ground,” Barry said, laugher still evident in his tone.

Owen turned back around to look at Barry and smile, “don’t want to get your wings wet?” It was a playful taunt, but he knew not everyone like the feeling of water over their feathers if their wings weren’t meant for it or if they couldn’t have it trained out of them. Owen was in the ‘trained out of them’ group himself.

Barry made an obvious show of rolling his eyes and shook his head, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips, “the beast in there, it makes a whale shark look like a minnow, my friend. You do not want to try your luck in the lagoon.”

Owen laughed at that and opened his mouth to say something else, but the monorail was slowing down and that caught his attention and he turned his head to face front, his smile growing as the visitor area proper was now fully in view. He latched a hand onto the seat in front of him and pulled himself into a standing position, pulling his wings tighter to his back knowing that he might accidentally knock them into Barry in the close space if he didn’t.

Barry chuckled at his show of excitement and stood as well, “if this is how you react before we even see the dinosaurs, please tell me you aren’t going to, what is it the Americans call it?” He made a vague hand gesture that didn’t help Owen at all with the guessing game, but then snapped his fingers, “ah! Please tell me you won’t ‘fanboy’ an scream when you see your first dinosaur today. I don’t think I could survive the second hand embarrassment from it.” He was giving Owen a withering glare, like someone that has had to bring newbies to the park one to many times for his own liking.

Owen shrugged noncommittally, “you might want to stand a few paces away then, cause I can’t confirm or deny that some unholy sound ain’t passing through these lips when I finally set my sights on a dinosaur. You won’t hurt my feelings any if you pretend not to know me though. As long as I can vaguely see which way I need to be going I’ll still be following you.”

“Your shit-eating-grin makes me regret my life choices up to this point in my career,” Barry said, shaking his head as the doors opened and they stepped out into the visitor's promenade.

Owen couldn't believe how many people there were, or the variety of familiars that were with them. The smile that split his face was a little on the absurd side, but he couldn't help it, he was going to see real life dinosaurs soon, just like everyone else. He followed Barry passed the hotels for the guests and back to where the park staff, the ones that lived on the island at least, lived. It had been an option on one of the forms he'd had to fill out, live on the island, or commute from the main land every morning and evening with the first just before day break and just before sun down. No thanks, Owen would rather just live on the island and take his chances.

What good was telling Dr. Sattler-Degler that he was good at running if he chose not to live on the damn island in the end anyway?

...

Owen tossed his things down in the room Barry took him too and then moved right over to the double doors that opened to the balcony, pulling the doors open wide. The air rushed in ruffling hair, clothing and feathers alike, and Owen hardly paused with it before moving to stand outside and looking around.

Leaning far out over the railing and looking down got a squawk of alarm from Barry behind him and Owen felt a hand catch him upper arm and try to pull him back.

"I don't care how good of a flier you are, Grady, please don't jump on me on your first day here. You'd be surprised how many have tried it and then we're very shocked on the way down when the air currents they were expecting to help them get lift weren't there," Owen had turned back to look at Barry as he had been speaking and it was clear that the man had been the main witness to at least one such incident.

Owen just wasn't sure if it was from in the room with the other newbie or on the ground with everyone else. Could have been both version for all Owen knew, and that just made him a little heart sick that anyone would do that to someone else.

"Don't worry big guy, I wasn't going to swan dive on you. Gotta go for a run around the island before I'll actually fly around here. Pissed the Navy off that it wasn't a habit they could condition me out of," Owen smiled at me, but it wasn't the excitable smile from earlier. Instead it was a more easy going smile, one that he hoped conveyed that he understood where Barry was coming from.

Barry's shoulders relaxed a bit, so he must have gotten his point across.

"Speaking of military types, the rumor mill has it that InGen, who haven't have a noticeable presence on the island in years, are coming back. The timing of the coming back where anyone can see them and this new project that Mr. Masrani is starting is a little too coincidental, don't you think?" Barry said as he moved back into the apartment and away from the balcony.

Owen followed him, and even closed the double doors and latched them for Barry's peace of mind, before turning to face the other man again and nodding.

"While I'm a big fan of what they did to bring Dinosaurs back into the world, not a big fan of the whole Isla Sorna 'incident' and them bringing the animals not just to the mainland, but to a big city in the States. How they thought that wouldn't go King Kong on them is beyond me," Owen said shaking his head, wings ruffling up in annoyance. "I don't even want to think of what might have happened if Dr. Malcolm hadn't been there...and that isn't something I thought I would ever say out loud," he continued with a smile.

Barry laughed, "If chaos is going to happen who better to have around than Dr. Ian Malcolm?"

There was a beat of silence and then both men burst out laughing. Owen was going to have to email Dr. Sattler-Degler about this, he was sure that she would get a kick out of it, and then he knew she would rib Dr. Malcolm about it later.

Mood lighter again, the pair left the employee housing and went to get food. Owen wasn't sure which meal it was for him any more, he'd skipped at least two very recently and his stomach was letting him know it know, in no uncertain terms.

...

Barry had taken Owen to get his employee IDs and other necessary items and paper work taken care of after that, all of which Owen found mind numbing and might have been brain dead for 75% of it if it hadn't been for Barry constantly talking to him and bringing him back to task. Even still, it took far longer than it had any right to take.

The sun was nearly kissing the horizon by the time they were done and heading over to the labs to meet up with the park director, Claire...Barry had said her last name, Owen was sure of it, but it just wasn't joining the party in Owen's head after the soul sucking experience of Jurassic World's paper work.

"Please tell me that food will be involved, or that food will happen right after," Owen damn near whined while looking at Barry with his eyes as wide as they could go.

Barry laughed and shoved him away, "you are an adult, you will act like an adult, and you will be fed like an adult."

A hummingbird darted in front of the pair, bringing their good natured ribbing to an abrupt end. Did hummingbirds live on the islands off the cost of Costa Rica?

The small, brightly colored bird turned and flew away from them, only to perch on the should of a woman standing not five feet from them. How long had she been there?

"Ms. Zara!" Barry said, a slight strained note to his voice. "I didn't think we were running late for Owen's appointment with Ms. Dearing."

"You're not," came the clipped and very British accented reply from Zara. "I was sent down to fetch you to make sure that neither of you got distracted along the way."

Zara turned away from them, without even a by-your-leave, and pulled out her phone as she started walking away from the pair. Barry and Owen quickly moving to catch up. Zara's hummingbird familiar flitted all around the space between them, seemingly excited at a new face, since it came back to Owen more often than it went to Barry.

"Jade, the made is not one of the park attractions, please stop staring at him," Zara admonished softly, her nearly jet black sparrow wing puffing up some to show she was more amused than anything else at her familiars behavior.

Jade, for her part, flew back to Zara's shoulder and trilled at her once and then actually hid in her wings. Zara shook her head and sighed.

"If I may," Owen started, "what did she say?"

The group was paused, waiting for the elevator up to the meeting with Claire Dearing.

Zara gave Owen an appraising look before saying, "Jade said not many people who come to work here already have Dark wings. Some get /after/ they start here sure. Working with dinosaurs, even the herbivores can be dangerous because they might step on you and that can be a real shock to the system if they land a foot and miss you with in less than a few inches. But I can count on one hand the people that have started here with Dark wings."

"Are you telling me I either have a great track record to hold up, or I'll be dead in a week?" Owen jokingly asked.

"It's a possibility," Zara said as the elevator doors opened, though she didn't say which one was the possibility. Ah, the British and their sense of humor.

Owen looked at Barry and cocked an eyebrow, as if to ask, that was a joke she just made, right? Barry only pat his should as the doors closed behind them. Ok, Owen might be a tad worried about that now.

...

The meeting with Claire Dearing was timed, or at least that's what Owen though as she rushed through introductions, where Mr. Masrani was having the new paddock built for what Owen and Barry were going to be a part of and then sent them on their way to go and meet Dr. Henry Wu.

Owen blinked at Barry once they were back in the elevator.

"What just happened?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank those of you who commented last chapter and took part in the social experiment, you are all very lovely people!!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DNA things happen, Owen mostly doesn't drive Barry insane, a play pen is built and there might be eggs by the end.

Henry Wu sat at his work station when Owen and Barry walked in.  His familiar, a rat, was perched on his shoulder and watching them the way Henry wasn't.  Owen was only mildly disconcerted.  There had been people, men and women, back in the Navy that had small familiars that were viewed as more intelligent than other animals and they would always be watching.  At least that's what Owen always thought.  

 

Must be nice to have such an intelligent familiar.

 

Barry cleared his throat as they stood there, his wings shifting behind him.

 

Wu's wings made his long suffering sigh look more pronounced as he finally looked up, "gentleman, so good of you to stop by.  Ms Dearing said that she would be sending you down after she had met with Mr. Grady."  He inclined his head to Owen, who nodded back in kind.

 

"I'm sure she didn't touch on what you would be working on, so she most likely didn't even allow you to ask any questions about it," Wu said with a slight smile.

 

"That is one way to put it," Owen said, rolling his eyes.  "What are we going to be working with doc?"

 

Wu stood and moved around to the front of his desk, his rat hardly even jostling with the motion.

 

"Mr. Masrani and InGen want to try something new that will not be open to the public for a long while, if ever.  One of the men from InGen said it would be right up your alley, Mr. Grady, and he was the one that told Mr. Masrani about you."

 

Owen's eyebrow shot up nearly into his hair at hearing this.  What on Earth were they going to have he and Barry working with?

 

"If InGen only wanted Owen, then why am I here?" Barry asked, a frown making his face.

 

"They wanted to pair Mr. Grady with someone that has been on the island for a while already, someone that can keep a cool head.  Several people suggested you, Mr. Sy,". Wu turned his back on the pair, going to a wall mounted display and tapping it a few times.

 

Owen and Barry looked at each other, it was clear that Barry wanted to have a conversation away from the good doctor, and Owen couldn't agree more.  

 

Instead of quickly excusing them both though he asked, "So what's ol' InGen want us working with then?"

 

Wu stepped aside from the display to reveal a digital model of a dinosaur that should have been a Utahraptor, but anyone that knew anything about the original Park or Isla Sorna knew that it was no Utahraptor, not by a long shot.  Something meaner and smarter and wholly man made, taking another 'raptors name.

 

"You're all out of your goddamned minds," Owen said flatly.

 

...

 

"They might be out of their minds, but you're still going to say yes to whatever the project is, aren't you?" Barry asked after they had gotten back to Owen's room.

 

"Damn right I am.  Who knows who they could pull in after me to do this?  Someone with a few less morals, that's for sure.  If I stay then it'll have to be done as close to my terms as possible.  Hell, maybe we'll even get lucky and the damn things could imprint on one of us when they hatch," Owen paused and turned to look at Barry.  "Is that really a thing?  Do the dinosaurs created here imprint on the first thing they see out of their eggs?"

 

Barry thought about this for a moment, tapping his chin before replying, "some do and some don't.  It's been a toss up in the end for it.  We've never guessed it right."

 

Owen's shoulders slumped and he relaxed the right hold on his wings so that they spread out some, exaggerating the motion of his shoulders. That was no good, he didn't exactly want to roll the dice on whether these new InGen Velociraptors would imprint or murder everyone. Not that he had a choice since he was sticking with the program though, but maybe...

 

"Owen, no," Barry suddenly said. "I've only known you a few hours and already I feel I know you too well. That look that just came over your face, I don't like it." His wings had risen up some with his anxiety over what Owen may or may not be thinking. 

 

A slow smile spread across Owen's face as he looked up at his new best friend. His wings fluffing up as he got excited. 

 

"Do they let employees live anywhere other than in this employee apartment building?"

 

The look Barry leveled at him was put upon, done with his shit and had the knowledge that he was going to agree with what ever came out of Owen's mouth. Owen just smiled wider. 

 

...

 

It took a while for Wu to finalize the cocktail of different DNA that was ultimately going to create the new raptors. In that time Owen asked everyday to have some kind of housing away from the public, that could be fenced in somehow or someway so that when he did get the babies he could start working with them on their training right away. Everyday he was told no. 

 

Sometime between the DNA mix being placed in an embryo and then put into eggs to let nature take care of the rest, and Barry joining in with Owen asking about offsite housing, the higher ups cracked and ok'd the pair their request. Barry was certain they did it just to get Owen away from them. 

 

A small detail from the construction crew was sent to a smaller corner of the island to set up the new dwelling and Barry was able to continue Owen's training for park life without having to chase him down. 

 

"Told you it would work," Owen said one day while they were eating lunch, a look on his face that could only be described as a shit-eating grin spreading. 

 

Barry let his head thunk against the table with a groan. "Are you always going to be like this?"

 

"The magic 8 ball says, 'Yes,'" Owen smiled at the top and back of Barry's head. 

 

Barry pulled himself up and held a finger out, pointing at Owen, "I do not want grey hair from you, Grady. You better get your act together!"

 

"How can I get my act together when we're literally the first people to even attempt to train raptors?  There's no act to follow for us to even use as a road map," Owen replied before he took another bite of his sandwich. 

 

Barry thought for a moment before replying. "You said you're in contact with doctors Sadler and Grant, right?  Have they given you any advise?"

 

Owen snorted into his soda and then started coughing as the carbonation went up his nose, Barry did his best not to laugh into his own drink. Once he got himself set to rights he said, "Alan says we're going to die as they rip us apart, slowly and with pack dynamics, but please keep him updated on the sheer stupidity that is InGen and Masrani Corp before our untimely end. Ellie keeps sending me links to cardio workouts because she thinks it's funny. Those little shits aren't giving anyone advice anytime soon."

 

Barry boggled at him for a moment before, "cardio workouts?"

 

"So that I can run and scream at the same time. I can just picture her sitting there, drinking something stronger than coffee at 9 am and cackling away with each new link she finds," Owen groused, but he was smiling so it lost most of its heat. 

 

Barry sighed and rolled his eyes. "Why are you all insane?"

 

"Dinosaurs," was all Owen said as he shrugged. 

 

"That's not how they work!" Barry sighed in exasperation. 

 

"You don't know that!!  The animals on this island aren't exactly the genuine article from 65 million years ago now are they?  They're mostly right, but not quite," Owen said, gesturing his food at Barry.  "Are we going to be training _actual_ velociraptors? No. If we were, they'd be chicken sized, and floofy with either proto-feathers or actual feathers. We're going to be training something closer to Utahraptors and you know it. The name just didn't sound cool enough so InGen swapped it."

 

...

 

The "Play Pen" and Owen's off site housing were finished before the eggs hatched. With too much time to spare for Barry's sanity, if anyone bothered to ask him. Not that anyone did. 

 

Owen had taken to waking him up before the sun had crested the skyline to do a morning workout. This by itself wasn't so bad, Barry liked the routine of it. What Barry didn't like was that he was suddenly doing far more flying than he had in recent years and for extended periods of time.  

 

"Don't need to run and screem if they can't reach us at all, right?" Owen had reasoned with a shit eating grin and Barry was certain that Dr. Sattler had to be involved in this somehow. 

 

...

 

It was now months into Owen's time on the island and the initial DNA cocktail eggs were being watched closely for any signs that their tiny occupants were trying to get free. The lab rats had given Owen an alert bracelet that would "get his attention" when they noticed the first signs so that he could haul flight feather down to the lab. 

 

Owen was less than impressed that they wouldn't tell him how the bracelet worked and was sure he was being used as an experiment himself. 

 

He and Barry were just landing from their morning workout, picking each others flying a part in a way that only friends could do, when the bracket lit up. 

 

"Your wrist...,"Barry started to say just as Owen let out a shocked yelp and his arm and wing jerked out in reflex. 

 

Both men stared at each other for a moment. 

 

"Those little shits _were_ using me as an experiment!" Owen snapped as he ripped the bracket off and stretched his wings out again.  He could get there faster flying, and he certainly didn't care now that he smelled like a locker room. 

 

"Go, I'll catch up," Barry said, and motioned for him to take off. 

 

Owen pushed off the ground and pushed hard with his wings to get back into the air, the bracelet held tight in his hand. 

 

By the time he landed on the front steps there was already a lab tech waiting for him and in spite of the stink eye Owen gave the kid, they ushered him into the building and into the incubation area as quickly as humanly possibly. 

 

"What's with all the rush?  I know it's all time sensitive but I didn't take that long to get here from the time you guys used your shock collar on me," Owen said. The tech's twitchiness was starting to make him nervous now too. 

 

"Two of the eggs have already hatched, the raptors inside died within moments of breaking free. The third egg was almost done when they sent me outside to look for you and the fourth had only just started," the tech said anxiously as they opened the door and ushered Owen in. 

 

Dr. Wu had cleared everyone away from the incubation table and once he spotted Owen he dashed over and grabbed the mans upper arm, making a brief face at the odor Owen still had from his work out. 

 

"This went much faster than we anticipated once they started hatching. I can only hoped you were told what happened while you were en route because I don't have time and now there's only one egg left," the geneticist said tersely. 

 

Owen's head snapped down to look at the table where there were the shattered remains of three eggs and the limp bodies of the of baby raptors that had been inside them. His heart lurched for a moment, if the fourth one died, would they try again or would they call it quits on his program?

 

He didn't get to dwell on it as the fourth egg gave a wobble and he reached out automatically to help keep it stable. There was a tiny peep from inside and the little dinosaur started to break the egg once more. Several hardy tries and one tiny screech later the final raptor spilled into Owen's palms and blinked up at him. 

 

The lab collectively held its breath as they waited to see if this hatchling would have the same fate as its sisters. 

 

The raptor blinked slowly up at Owen and cocked its head to the side, as if already considering the best way to take him down. It blinked again and looked away, turning its head to reveal a very unique blue stripe. A shade of blue that Owen had seen so often it was second nature to him to know it. 

 

While the baby in his hands started screeching for food, Owen turned his head and arced his wing so that he could see his flight feathers and that very same shade of blue. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After some extra awesome writing anxiety and some stop and go I managed to get this done! 
> 
> If you hadn't yet noticed, I am not the fastest writer. I am however one that goes though some impressive anxiety when I post new chapters, so if you spot any mistakes it's because I don't generally have a beta read it over first. I know I'll psych myself out of posting it if I do.
> 
> So for anyone that stuck around for this chapter, thanks. I'm sorry it took so long, i'm kind of surprised it didn't actually take longer at the same time.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed what I did, and hope you stick with me for the next chapter!


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